TY - JOUR
T1 - Learning is organized by chunking
AU - Buschke, Herman
N1 - Funding Information:
Chunking and organization in memory have been investigated vigorously since Bousfield (1953) pointed out that items seem to be recalled in associated clusters, and Miller (1956) pointed out that limits in our capacity for processing information necessitate recoding by organizing items into “chunks” that can themselves be organized. Our understanding of such organization in memory and learning has been advanced greatly by the contributions of Tulving (1962; Tulving & Donaldson, 1972), Pollio (1964; Pollio et al., 1968; 1969), Mandler (1967; 1970; Mandler & Dean, 1969), Cofer (1967), Bower (1970), Kintsch (1970), Pellegrino and Battig (1974), and Martin and Noreen (1974), asw ell as many others. Most of the extensive research on organization in memory and learning has been concerned with demonstrating that retrieval in free recall learning is organized, with estimating the total amount of organization, and This work is supported by USPHS Grants MH-17733 to H. B. from NIMH, NS-03356 from NINDS, and HD-01799 from NICHD. I thank Christine Sinclair-Prince for experimental and editorial assistance. Requests for reprints should be sent to Herman Buschke, M.D., Department of Neurology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461.
Copyright:
Copyright 2014 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 1976/6
Y1 - 1976/6
N2 - Chunking of items, with further organization of the chunks, has long been supposed to play a significant role in verbal learning. Spontaneous chunking in natural free recall learning is demonstrated directly by identifying clusters of items that recur together in different retrieval attempts, demarcated by different items or clusters. Trial-by-trial delineation of actual chunks and their organization in typical individual learning protocols demonstrates that items are spontaneously clustered into many small recurrent chunks, which remain intact when they are juxtaposed in higher-order organization of the basic chunks. Identification of the actual chunks in each retrieval permits trial-by-trial analysis of organization during verbal learning in terms of both basic clustering and higher-order organization of recurrent, well-defined clusters. Identification of chunking also allows analysis of the increasing rate of retrieval during learning in terms of individual items, items within chunks, and chunks.
AB - Chunking of items, with further organization of the chunks, has long been supposed to play a significant role in verbal learning. Spontaneous chunking in natural free recall learning is demonstrated directly by identifying clusters of items that recur together in different retrieval attempts, demarcated by different items or clusters. Trial-by-trial delineation of actual chunks and their organization in typical individual learning protocols demonstrates that items are spontaneously clustered into many small recurrent chunks, which remain intact when they are juxtaposed in higher-order organization of the basic chunks. Identification of the actual chunks in each retrieval permits trial-by-trial analysis of organization during verbal learning in terms of both basic clustering and higher-order organization of recurrent, well-defined clusters. Identification of chunking also allows analysis of the increasing rate of retrieval during learning in terms of individual items, items within chunks, and chunks.
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U2 - 10.1016/0022-5371(76)90028-1
DO - 10.1016/0022-5371(76)90028-1
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:34248957704
VL - 15
SP - 313
EP - 324
JO - Journal of Memory and Language
JF - Journal of Memory and Language
SN - 0749-596X
IS - 3
ER -